Damn, Ethan! That was a hell of a deal. ” “It’s called good business. ” Jamie chuckled. ” Ethan groaned, then shut the back door. ” Ethan started the truck and put his seatbelt on. “You’re welcome. ” Jamie grabbed his hat by the crown, pulled it off, raked his hand through those dark curls, then put it back on his head. He caught Ethan’s gaze and grinned. ” He waggled his eyebrows. Why that little ...! Ethan grinned back. Oh, yeah, he was definitely gonna have some of him, but that hadn’t been what he was referring to.

Ethan chuckled and continued to lavish attention on her. “What is it, girl? Doesn’t anybody ever give you any attention? ” Jamie snorted. ” The Tin Star 51 Fred hammed it up; she wagged her tail and laid her head on Ethan’s thigh, licking his arm. Ethan sipped from his bottle and idly petted Fred’s head. ” “I spent a lot of time with Mama. Daddy was always too busy, and John and Jules were enough older that they didn’t want to be bothered with a snot-nosed little brother tagging along all the time.

Hadn’t John always said it was too bad he was gay, because if he weren’t, Ethan could marry Julia and they’d be brothers? All right, so they’d been kids when he’d said that, but still ... What the hell. He wasn’t getting any younger. Over the years, he’d had a few onenight stands during his business trips, but his last serious relationship had been in college with Cliff. And that hadn’t stood a chance because John and Cliff had detested each other. Cliff had annoyed the piss out of John, and Ethan’s friendship with John had always made Cliff jealous.